CS Distinguished Lecture: Are We Cooked?

CS Distinguished Lecture: Are We Cooked?

Sep 18, 2026 - 4:25 PM
to Sep 18, 2026 - 5:25 PM

Abstract: Scott Aaronson will describe some recent case studies of using AI to solve open problems that he is passionate about in quantum computing and computational complexity theory and reflect on what theoretical computer science might look like going forward.

Event attendance will count for Colloquium credit


Scott Aaronson is Schlumberger Chair of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin, and founding director of its Quantum Information Center. He received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and his PhD from UC Berkeley. Aaronson’s research has focused mainly on the capabilities and limits of quantum computers. His first book, Quantum Computing Since Democritus, was published in 2013 by Cambridge University Press. He received the National Science Foundation’s Alan T. Waterman Award, the United States PECASE Award, the Tomassoni-Chisesi Prize in Physics, the ACM Prize in Computing, and the inaugural Trevisan Prize for Expository Work in Theory of Computing and is a Fellow of the ACM and the AAAS and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He blogs at “Shtetl-Optimized,” 
https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog